Regenerate
by Sadie922
Summary: Post-Eclipse. Alice has fallen out of love with Jasper. His heart effectively torn from his chest, Jasper flees from the Cullen household only to, quite literally, run into the one person he least expcected to see. An unlikely friendship ensues.


"I'm sorry Jasper!!"

"Don't."

"Please, just listen to me!"

Alice threw herself in front of him, her face pleading silently. As she struggled to persuade him to stand still, Jasper's eyes swam around the room, fixing on anything that wasn't her.

"Please, don't. I can't stand it."

His voice was barely a whisper. It was so full of sorrow and hurt that it would have been easier if he had screamed at her. Like a ghost, Jasper swivelled and made for the door, his face blank and hard as stone.

"No! I can't let you leave until I've explained."

Flinching, Jasper hesitated at the desperation etched in her voice.

"Sure, as long as you're content, then we've got nothing to worry about," he hissed, scorching Alice by impregnating his tone with venom. He remained facing the door, growing increasingly more impatient with every instant that passed without a sound. "Alice, I haven't got time for this! Spit it out or I'm leaving."

"I don't know how it happened," she let out in a rush. "I did love you. I honestly did! The years we spent together were the best of my life, but now-"

"But now you don't."

Alice grimaced at the matter-of-fact quality of Jasper's words, knowing full well that beneath the carefully constructed surface lay an unyielding heart-ache like no other. The room echoed the silence which was so prominent in its atmosphere, deafening the ones that dwelled within it.

Sighing in exhaustion, Jasper veered his head a fraction in Alice's direction. She could almost gaze into his eyes.

"Goodbye, Alice." _I'll never stop loving you._

As he exited the room, his stomach gave a lurch at the sound of the sobbing which Alice had been unable hold off until he'd gone. He glanced at the top of the staircase, which lead to the bedrooms and offices, thinking of Carlisle and Esme and how much they had done for him. And now he was abandoning them. What a fine son he was.

He didn't want to even begin thinking about the rest of his family; otherwise he would never be able to leave. So, without looking back, Jasper left the Cullen's behind, knowing that his heart would remain with them for the rest of his existence. Not sparing one thought for anything at all, he threw himself into the forest, flying gracefully through its shrubbery and leaping to such heights, allowing him spectacular views from the canopy.

However, even through all of his trouble, he was utterly powerless against his memories of Alice, which began seeping into his thoughts and tearing at his already worn emotions. Images of her laughing and sparkling in the sunlight invaded is mind's eye, along with visions of how her cropped hair used to almost float around her face and how she used to watch him from across the room when she thought he couldn't see.

Jasper almost laughed when he pictured this, consumed by his vivid memories, but this quickly turned into a small outcry, and he clutched his chest roughly from the sharp sting of his hurt. The pain was so intense; he had to stop, falling to his knees and sitting back on his ankles.

_Just tell me what to do_, he prayed, inwardly, gazing to the heavens, _please, I'm nothing without her. What do I do?_

When his question remained unanswered, Jasper broke into another run, helpless and alone. Unable to concentrate, he failed to notice the hump of scruffy brown fur he was rapidly approaching and, as a result, ended up stumbling over it, lose his footing and tumbling into the bushes ahead of him.

"Damn it," he muttered, clutching at his wrist, while attempting to crawl out of the undergrowth. As he emerged, a repulsive scent gradually crept up his nose, tickling his senses unpleasantly and causing his nose to crinkle in response.

"You don't smell too good yourself, bloodsucker."

Jasper's head snapped up, instantly recognising the voice. He mentally kicked himself for not immediately matching the scent with the owner; it was so obviously his – he had smelt it enough to last him a lifetime.

"Jacob Black, is that you?"

Stunned, Jasper ambled over from the bushes, though he still lingered a fair distance away, in case Jacob was uncertain about being around him on his own. Scaring him off was the last thing he wanted to do, as talking at anyone, even a werewolf, was better than returning to that void of nothingness. All he had there was the darkness which was slowly inching through his veins, overshadowing him and the more time he spent with it, the stronger it was getting.

"Crap. So people still remember me, huh?" he smiled a bitter, twisted smile, his attempt at nonchalance declining promptly. Jasper was unsure as to whether it was he who was the cause, or whether it had been too long since Jacob had actually attempted to smile, that he had lost the ability to perform it properly.

"Of course they do!" Jasper hissed in outrage. "You just abandoned Bella without a goodbye or an explanation; you tore her to shreds when you left her." It was hard to tell whether Jasper was angry for Bella or himself. Or both.

"Yeah? Well, she abandoned me first!" bellowed Jacob, throwing his hands into the air. "Or were you just ignoring that part?"

"You don't know what you've done to her," Jasper said, incredulously "She was never the same after that. Not with Charlie, René, Edward – none of us."

"What do _you_ know, leech? You just prance around; manipulating people's emotions against their will like you think you're some kind of lame-assed god. You know _nothing_."

"Oh, I know plenty, pup. The world doesn't revolve around you and it would do you good to finally grasp that. What gives you the right to rip someone's heart out that way? She loves you, maybe not as much as she loves Edward, but she still loves you and you just went and threw it in her face."

When Jasper had finished scolding Jacob, he slowly came to realise a rather pressing issue, surprising himself that he had not noticed earlier.

"Why are you naked?"

Jacob scoffed, haughtily and folded his arms over his toned chest.

"I'm sorry, but when was the last time you saw a wolf running around wearing a pair of jeans?"

Jasper's eyebrows pulled together.

"You've been out here all this time?"

"Yeah, like I could _really_ leave her."

Jasper was taken aback. "You've been watching over her."

It wasn't a question.

"Would you be able to leave your leech?"

"I already have," muttered Jasper, fixing his eyes on the ground below him.

It was evident that he had taken Jacob by surprise with this news when he didn't fire back with another one of his witty comments.

"What?"

The concern in Jacob's voice was poignant, shocking Jasper. He was even more stunned when he sensed his emotions discovering that he was, in fact, not pretending.

"Well, she left me, really," Jasper's voice had returned to its dead, matter-of-fact tone. "I must have become tedious to her or something. She just fell out of love with me. And considering how hard we fell, I must have been pretty damn boring."

The sounds of the forest filled the silence surrounding them. Judging by his silence, Jacob was too astonished to speak. Jasper was strangely touched by the fact that Jacob was contemplating as to whether he should console him or not, but decided against mentioning it. It would probably do more harm than good.

"So, uh…" Jacob began "Do you want to hang out?"

He almost laughed when Jasper's mouth fell open, but politely held it back, biting at his bottom lip and dipping his head. When Jasper failed to reply, he considered taking the question back and calling him a bloodsucker. He was shocked to find that he didn't need to.

"Sure," replied Jasper. He smiled slightly, causing Jacob to recoil.

"Hey, don't be getting all mushy on me, okay?"

"Okay, but I just wanted to thank you-"

"Aw, man. I said don't and you do – what is this, opposites day?"

"No, but-"

"Look, you don't need to say it, all right, Ja-"

Jacob cut himself off, his eyes widening as he did so, causing Jasper to smirk in satisfaction at his discomfort.

"You were going to call me Jasper," he said, smugly.

An ugly scowl worked its way into Jacob's facial features and Jasper chuckled, amused at his expression.

"Well, that is your name, isn't it?"

"That's the lamest excuse I've ever heard. You like me," Jasper teased, folding his arms the way Jacob had before.

"I do _not_ like you."

"Sure, sure."

"I don't!"

"You know, when your voice goes all high like a girl's? You're lying."

"I'm not lying!"

"Yeah, you keep telling yourself that." Jasper chuckled as he strolled away from Jacob, leaving him speechless. "You coming or what?"

"Oh, what, so I'm your little protégé now?"

"Of course. I'm the oldest, after all."

"Come on, that's hardly fair," Jacob moaned, meandering alongside him "You've gotta be like a million years old or something; I never even stood a chance."

"That right," laughed Jasper.

"No way, we gotta start things from scratch, we'll decide our individual ages based on our abilities, just like I used to do with Bel-"

A rush of heart-ache poured from Jacob's body, knocking the breath out of Jasper as he took the brunt of it. He doubled over in pain, falling to his knees for the second time, both his own and Jacob's grief just too much to bear. It sliced through him, as if his heart was being cleaved from his chest all over again. The pain left him again as soon as Jacob had realised that Jasper had fallen to the floor, now filled with concern. Jasper almost didn't hear him calling out his name as he slipped into the welcoming state of unconsciousness.


End file.
